The butterfly pea flower possesses a pure blue color that has made many women fascinated. Thanks to that, the trend of changing cooling drinks and dishes from butterfly pea flowers gradually became “busy” on social networks. However, do you know all the benefits of it? Let’s learn the effects of butterfly pea flower with Viet Delta !
1. What is butterfly pea flower?
Butterfly pea, English name is Clitoria ternatea L., or butterfly flower, purple flower bean is a species of herbaceous plant, vines that live many years. The flowers of the plant are dark blue, blue-violet or white, but most commonly the characteristic blue-violet color. The reason they wear such eye-catching colors is due to the anthocyanins component – a type of pigment that has the ability to resist oxidation and is found in many vegetables and fruits with similar colors. Anthocyanins, in addition to making blue-violet flowers, also have certain medicinal property.
According to research, the source of nutrients in the butterfly pea flower is very diverse. Most of the time you can find beneficial chemical compounds on every part of the plant. This flower contains glycosides and esters, which contain a lot of antioxidants such as flavonoids and cliotides. Aparajita and G-lactose have also been found in the leaves; amino acids and arginine, tyrosin, glycine, aspartic acid in the flower seed part.
According to Oriental medicine, the effects of it are quite diverse, including the ability to help diuretic, control sweat, detoxify and so that the skin becomes more glossy and soft. Butterfly pea flower when processed to make tea will help control blood sugar and prevent diabetes.
2. Why is it so popular?
As you know, pea flower not only helps dishes become more attractive through its color, butterfly pea flower is also a medicine to help improve many health problems that many people do not expect. Let’s find out the details with us!
2.1 Make food and drinks more colorful
Butterfly Pea Flower (used fresh, dried or powdered) when soaked in water for about 5 minutes, it will be a blue color, tasteless.
Filter the flower carcass to get the water. Then pour into the mixture of sugar (honey), ice or smoothies, cocktails (with other fruits such as strawberries, apples …), add a little vanilla flavor, and it will become a beautifully colored drink. This color varies from blue, pink to purple depending on the amount of flowers and ingredients.
2.2 Improve health and prevent disease
Butterfly pea flower helps limit the risk of diabetes: Do you know why butterfly pea flower has the ability to limit the risk of diabetes?
Anthocyanins found in this flower help regulate blood sugar by inhibiting the action of carbohydrate-digesting enzymes such as pancreatic alpha-amylase , intestinal alpha-glucosidase and intestinal sucrase. This slows down the digestion and absorption of sugar, which significantly lowers insulin and blood sugar levels.
When the amount of insulin in the blood decreases, it also reduces the risk of insulin resistance, limiting the risk of obesity, vascular dysfunction and metabolic syndrome.
Prevent and treat cancer: Butterfly pea flower possesses extremely high antioxidant capacity. Thanks to that, this flower has the ability to effectively prevent and limit cancer development based on 3 main reasons:
- Contains cliotide that inhibits cancer cells.
- Minimize the formation of free radicals.
- Stabilizes mitochondrial DNA in cell nuclei, protects cell membranes, and enhances detection and screening of leukemia and phagocytosis.
Improve cardiovascular disease: The substances contained in the butterfly pea flower have the effect of controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the patient’s body. Research conducted on animals has shown that butterfly pea flower extract helps lower blood pressure by opening blood vessels to increase blood flow.
Improve eyesight: A perfect but little-expected use of butterfly pea flower is its ability to effectively improve eyesight for users. Thanks to the increased blood flow to the capillaries of the eye to nourish and help the eyes improve vision, limit the formation of cataracts and reduce damage to the retina very well.
3. Dried butterfly pea flowers have the same effect as fresh flowers?
Butterfly pea flowers are harvested and dried for preservation. All the nutrients and effects of flowers are kept the same as fresh flowers. You just need to soak the flowers in warm water to use.
Especially, when making butterfly pea flower tea, people will dry it until the flowers are dry, then incubate the dried flowers with boiling water. After brewing, the tea may turn purple, red or green depending on the pH in the tea.